Abstract: Richmond Public Library’s digital photograph collection includes two hundred sixty photographs of historical interest on the
City of Richmond from its earliest beginnings to 2007. There are photographs of the early settlers, local businesses, major
industries, civic buildings, residences and neighborhoods. Prominently represented are the Standard Oil Company, the Pullman
Company, and the Kaiser Shipyards. A small selection of color photographs document industries and buildings which still exist
in the city today. Many of the historic photographs were taken by the Cheney Photo Advertising Company and from the Jack M.
Barry collection. The color photographs were taken by staff member Rose Cheney (no relation to the Cheney Company.)

Property rights reside with the Richmond Public Library. For permission to publish or to reproduce, please contact the Library
Director.

Preferred Citation

Richmond local history photograph collection. Richmond Public Library, Richmond, California.

Acquisition Information

Collected by Richmond Public Library staff and others, 1910-present.

Project Information

The photographs were selected from the 2,500 photographs in the library’s local history collection, commonly known as the
"Richmond Collection." They provided a look at the City of Richmond's early beginnings and its development into an industrial
city which played an important role in World War Two. The initial project of digitizing two hundred photographs took place
during the 2005-2006 grant years. Activities included photographic documentation, digitization, and cataloging of the photographs.
Digitization was performed by Northern Micrographics using flatbed scanners. A TIFF master, JPEG access image, and GIF thumbnail
image were created for each photograph. Project Staff cataloged the photographs in CONTENTdm software and conformed to the
CDL’s Guidelines for Digital Objects specifications for descriptive and copyright metadata. An additional 60 photographs
were added to collection during the 2006-2007 grant years. Northern Micrographics digitized twenty-five photographs. Thirty-five
color photographs were taken with a NIKON D70 digital camera to document historical buildings and businesses which remain
in existence today. The project was part of the California Local History Digital Resources Project (LHDRP), a multi-year program
supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology
Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. Leveraging the infrastructure of the California Digital Library (CDL)
in partnership with Califa and Infopeople, the LHDRP explores a model to aggregate, preserve, and provide permanent public
access to local history materials maintained by California cultural heritage institutions via a single statewide online access
point.

Scope and Content of Collection

Richmond Public Library’s digital photograph collection includes two hundred sixty photographs of historical interest on the
City of Richmond from its earliest beginnings to 2007. There are photographs of the early settlers, local businesses, major
industries, civic buildings, residences and neighborhoods. Prominently represented are the Standard Oil Company, the Pullman
Company, and the Kaiser Shipyards. A small selection of color photographs document industries and buildings which still exist
in the city today. Many of the historic photographs were taken by the Cheney Photo Advertising Company and from the Jack M.
Barry collection. The color photographs were taken by staff member Rose Cheney (no relation to the Cheney Company.)

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection.